List of the Rolling Stones concert tours explained

Since forming in 1962, the English rock band the Rolling Stones have performed more than two thousand concerts around the world,[1] becoming one of the world's most popular live music attractions in the process. The Stones' first tour in their home country was in September 1963 and their first American tour began in June 1964. In their early years of performing, the band would undertake numerous short tours of the United Kingdom and North America, playing in small- and medium-size venues to audiences composed largely of screaming girls. As time moved on, their audience base expanded (in terms of both size and diversity) and they would increasingly favour larger arenas and stadiums. For many years, the group would choose to play North America, Continental Europe, and the United Kingdom on a three-year rotating cycle.

Many audio recordings exist of Rolling Stones concerts, both official and unofficial. Seventeen official concert albums (eighteen in the United States) have been released by the band, six of which were previously unreleased concert recordings released from 2011–2012, including the highly bootlegged Brussels Affair. Several of their concerts have also been filmed and released under a variety of titles, such as The Stones in the Park which records the band's performance at Hyde Park in 1969 on the festival of the same name.

The most famous and heavily documented of all the band's concerts was the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, the final show of their American Tour 1969. For this concert, the biker gang Hells Angels provided security, which resulted in a fan, Meredith Hunter, being stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after he drew a firearm.[2] Part of the tour and the Altamont concert were documented in Albert and David Maysles' film Gimme Shelter. As a response to the growing popularity of bootleg recordings, the album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (UK 1; US 6) was released in 1970; it was declared by critic Lester Bangs to be the best live album ever.[3]

The biggest concert the band gave was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, part of the A Bigger Bang Tour, in 2006. The second largest was in 2016, when the band played for the first time in Cuba, during their América Latina Olé tour. An estimated 1.2 million fans, more than half of the population of Havana, saw the Rolling Stones whose music had been banned by the Cuban regime until only nine years before the concert. A live album and film, , were released in 2016.

Concert tour chronology

In bold, the tours which, when completed, became the highest-grossing of all time.

YearTitleDateAssociated album(s)Continent(s)Shows
1963British Tour 196329 September 1963 – 3 November 1963Europe60
19641st British Tour 19646 January 1964 – 27 January 1964Europe28
2nd British Tour 19648 February 1964 – 7 March 1964Europe58
1st American Tour 19645 June 1964 – 20 June 1964The Rolling StonesNorth America11
3rd British Tour 19641 August 1964 – 22 August 1964Europe11
4th British Tour 19645 September 1964 – 11 October 1964Europe64
2nd American Tour 196424 October 1964 – 11 November 196412 × 5North America11
1965Irish Tour 19656 January 1965 – 8 January 1965The Rolling Stones No. 2Europe6
Far East Tour 196522 January 1965 – 16 February 1965Oceania
Asia
36
1st British Tour 19655 March 1965 – 18 March 1965Europe28
1st European Tour 196526 March 1965 – 2 April 1965Europe11
2nd European Tour 196516 April 1965 – 18 April 1965Europe3
1st American Tour 196523 April 1965 – 29 May 1965The Rolling Stones, Now!North America22
3rd European Tour 196515 June 1965 – 29 June 1965Europe15
2nd Irish Tour 19653 September 1965 – 4 September 1965Europe2
4th European Tour 196511 September 1965 – 17 September 1965Europe11
2nd British Tour 196524 September 1965 – 17 October 1965Europe48
2nd American Tour 196529 October 1965 – 5 December 1965Out of Our HeadsEurope41
1966Australasian Tour 196618 February 1966 – 1 March 1966Oceania18
European Tour 196626 March 1966 – 5 April 1966Europe12
American Tour 196624 June 1966 – 28 July 1966AftermathNorth America32
British Tour 196623 September 1966 – 9 October 1966Europe23
1967European Tour 196725 March 1967 – 17 April 1967Between the ButtonsEurope27
1969American Tour 19697 November 1969 – 6 December 1969Beggars BanquetNorth America24
1970European Tour 197030 August 1970 – 9 October 1970Let It BleedEurope23
1971UK Tour 19714 March 1971 – 26 March 1971Europe18
1972American Tour 19723 June 1972 – 26 July 1972Exile on Main St.North America48
1973Pacific Tour 197318 January 1973 – 27 February 1973North America
Oceania
14
European Tour 19731 September 1973 – 19 October 1973Goats Head SoupEurope42
1975Tour of the Americas '751 June 1975 – 8 August 1975Made in the ShadeNorth America46
1976Tour of Europe '7628 April 1976 – 23 June 1976Black and BlueEurope41
1978US Tour 197810 June 1978 – 26 July 1978Some GirlsNorth America25
1981American Tour 198125 September 1981 – 19 December 1981Tattoo YouNorth America50
1982European Tour 198226 May 1982 – 25 July 1982Europe36
1989Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour31 August 1989 – 25 August 1990Steel WheelsNorth America
Asia
Europe
115
1990
1994Voodoo Lounge Tour1 August 1994 – 30 August 1995Voodoo LoungeNorth America
South America
Africa
Asia
Oceania
Europe
129
1995
1997Bridges to Babylon Tour23 September 1997 – 19 September 1998Bridges to BabylonNorth America
Asia
South America
Europe
97
1998
1999No Security Tour25 January 1999 – 20 June 1999No SecurityNorth America
Europe
43
2002Licks Tour3 September 2002 – 9 November 2003Forty LicksNorth America
Oceania
Asia
Europe
117
2003
2005A Bigger Bang Tour21 August 2005 – 26 August 2007A Bigger BangNorth America
South America
Asia
Oceania
Europe
147
2006
2007
201250 & Counting25 October 2012 – 13 July 2013GRRR!Europe
North America
30
2013
201414 On Fire21 February 2014 – 22 November 2014Asia
Europe
Oceania
29
2015Zip Code20 May 2015 – 15 July 2015Sticky Fingers (Deluxe 2015 Edition)North America17
2016América Latina Olé3 February 2016 – 25 March 2016South America14
2017No Filter Tour9 September 2017 – 23 November 2021Blue & LonesomeEurope
North America
58
2018
2019
2021
2022Sixty1 June 2022 – 3 August 2022Europe14
2024Hackney Diamonds Tour28 April — 21 July 2024Hackney DiamondsNorth America20

See also

References

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rolling Stones' North American Tour Postponed as Mick Jagger Undergoes Medical Treatment. time.com. 2 April 2019. Hillary Leung.
  2. Burks, John, "Rock & Roll's Worst Day: The aftermath of Altamont", Rolling Stone, 1970-02-07, URL retrieved 18 April 2007
  3. Bangs, Lester. "The Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" . Rolling Stone. 12 November 1970 (accessed 28 April 2007)